The Future Looks Kinda Dull
by shadrougeforever
Summary: When Charmy's toaster project goes wrong, it sends Rouge to the future. She learns that Dark has taken control of Mobius and her friends are separated. Can she do anything about this? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**IT'S JUST A TOASTER**

It was a beautiful day in Tech City and at the Chaotix Charmy was in the garage working on a brand new toaster, until the rest of the gang came in with their own problems and they figured Charmy could help.

"Charmy, the printer's jammed.", Shadow said.

"Charmy the computer isn't working", Tonya said.

"The toilet's clogged up again", Vector said.

"I think something's wrong with the coffee, it tastes funny." Espio said.

At last Charmy couldn't take it anymore, "Shut the hell up! I ain't no god damn mechanic! So have some god damn respect!"

Everyone backed off after Charmy's words.

Charmy then realized what he said and tried to rephrase it, "I mean sorry, can't get to it."

"But Charmy, that's your job to fix things." Vector reminded.

"I don't do that stuff, I take care of vehicles, defusing bombs. You know things that are useful."

"What about that toaster I wanted you to make?"

"You kept bugging me about it that's why."

"Well is it done?"

"Almost I just got to adjust this loose bolt first. Then it'll be ready."

"Hurry up, the report about that truck incident needs to be printed now." Shadow didn't like his work to be late always on time so he wouldn't have to worry about it the next day.

"I said wait damn it!"

Rouge came behind him agreeing with Charmy, "Yeah Shadow, give the boy his space. Your stupid report can wait."

Shadow knew Rouge was starting something, "Stay out of my business, bat."

"Well stop being selfish. Other people have feelings too yea know."

"Why do you always have to start shit with me?"

"Maybe because I feel like it."

They were interrupted when Charmy was done with the toaster.

Charmy held the toaster in the air, "Done!"

Rouge grabbed for it and looked at it. She then eyed a small black button on the side of it, "Does this button make the bread darker?" She pushed it and then a white light appeared from nowhere and sucked Rouge in.

Everyone was speechless for the moment, until Tonya spoke up, "Where did she go?"

Later on a trashy street Rouge was unconscious on the wreaked and abandoned road when it was usually full of traffic. She woke up slowly confused as she looked around her surroundings, "Charmy? Oh boy, where am I?" She continued to look around, "Is this Tech City?" She saw the same buildings except the ones she was looking at now were severely damaged. "This is Tech City, but something's different about it. Why is the sky pitch black? Why are the streets abandoned? Why is the city halfway destroyed? What's going on?" She looked on the ground beside her and saw the toaster she had. Some pieces were broke off from it. "Charmy's toaster did this." She pressed the black button multiple times, but it didn't do anything, "Oh no, it's broken. What am I going to do?"

Then a bright white light shone on her blinding her.

A voice called out, "Hold it right there. You're under arrest."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**I HATE THIS PLACE ALREADY**

The bright white light dimmed and then Rouge could then see the officers. She could've sworn she saw Hao's robots. As she examined them close up, she was right. "Wait a minute, you rust buckets can't arrest me. I hate to ask, but aren't you summoned to kill me?"

There were two of them. One spoke, "Illogical, we only kill those who disobeys an order. You are under arrest."

Rouge backed away a little, "Why? What did I do?"

Then a black blur came from nowhere and stood in front of Rouge acting as though he was protecting her. "Don't worry Rouge, I'll straighten this out."

"Shadow, boy am I glad to see you."

"She didn't mean to roam around alone on the street. Just give her another chance."

The robots thought for a few seconds until they finally came up with their answer, "She will not be placed under arrest. If we see this girl out again, she will be placed under arrest."

Shadow took Rouge's hand, "All right, we got." Shadow led Rouge to a further distance away from the robots.

Once they were far away from them, they had some time to talk.

"Thanks for saving me, Shadow. Why are Hao's robots controlling the street?"

"Because they are under the control of Lord Dark remember?"

"Lord Dark? Don't you mean Dark? Dark is no lord."

"What happened to your memory? Did something hit you hard on your head?"

"What are you talking about? You're the one who's lost it." Rouge noticed how different Shadow looked. "Is it me or did you all of a sudden get a little...older?"

Shadow looked at her confused, "What do you mean? I've always been this way. You're the one who looks different. You look a lot younger than usual."

Rouge put her hands on her hips looking angry at him, "So you're calling me old?"

Shadow looked at her sorry, "No, I didn't mean it that way. You're beautiful no matter what age you are."

Rouge was surprised, 'Why did he say those nice things to me and did he just call me beautiful? What's up with him anyway?'

Shadow changed the subject, "Where's Spike?"

Rouge was confused, "Who?"

"Spike."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Spike, our son. Isn't he with you?"

"Son! I have no kid and if I did I sure wouldn't make one with you!"

Shadow was surprised that she didn't know what he was talking about, 'Why can't she remember Spike? Maybe she isn't Rouge. If she isn't why does she look so identical to her? She could be Nails.' He took out a gun from his belt and pointed the weapon at her head.

Rouge panicked, "What the hell are you doing, Shadow! Get that gun from my head!"

"You're not my wife. I demand to know who you are."

"My name is Rouge! Rouge the Bat!"

Shadow gave her a cold stare with his finger still on the trigger.

"You're my partner at the Chaotix Detective Agency. Remember? You hate me, I hate you. Please, why can't you remember me?"

"Rouge?" He took the gun away from her head seeing that she was no threat. "Where did you come from?"

"Here! Tech City! Where the hell else!"

Shadow walked ahead, "Follow me."

Rouge slowly followed behind him.

Later they came to Shadow's house that was the only thing Rouge saw that didn't change at all.

Once they got inside a white bat was sitting on the sofa feeding something in a white blanket milk. She looked away from it when she saw the black hedgehog come through the door. She quickly got from the sofa, ran towards him and hugged him, "Oh Shadow, I was so worried about you. I thought Dark's robots got a hold of you."

He kissed her, "Those robots will believe anything."

The white bat then eyed Rouge beside him. Her eyes widened, she looked closely at her, "Shadow, who is this girl? She looks like...me."

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

Rouge couldn't take it anymore, "I don't get it damn it! What the hell's going on! I'm clueless here! Could someone fill me in on all this, please?"

Shadow and the white bat just stood there staring at her like she was crazy.

Then her confusing moment was interrupted when she heard a baby crying.

She saw the white bat cradling the white blanket in her arms, "It's all right, don't cry."

Rouge was curious so she walked over to the white bat slowly and looked what was in the white blanket. Once she saw what was in her arms all of her stress went away, "Oh my god", she said softly, "It's a baby hedgehog."

The baby hedgehog was black, he almost looked like Shadow except he was lacking his red quills, his eyes were big, green, and watery from his crying, and he had little bat wings. It was strange the baby stopped crying and started to smile when he eyed Rouge. He seemed to think that she was his mother. Even though Rouge had resembled the white bat in an uncanny way.

Rouge gently took the baby from his mother's arms and held him.

The white bat was surprised that her son adjusted to Rouge so quickly, "His name is Spike."

"Spike. What an adorable baby you have. He's so precious." Rouge then eyed the calendar that was on the wall. She walked up to it to examine it and there she saw the year. "What? This can't be right."

"What is it?" Shadow asked.

Rouge pointed to the year on the calendar, "According to the calendar it says that the year is 2031. Is it true?"

The black hedgehog and white bat nodded.

Rouge then had it all figured out, "If it's 2031 here, then that means this is the future and if the white bat is me and I'm kissing on Shadow and having kids with him then that means...we're...married?" Rouge felt faint she held her head for a few seconds feeling sick.

Shadow led her to the sofa and forced her to sit down. "Are you feeling all right?"

"This isn't right. The city...what happened to it?"

Shadow remained quiet for a moment until he finally spoke, "Dark, he-he reached his goal and conquered all of Mobius."

Rouge was then silent. She was definitely feeling sick now that she heard that.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**REUNITING THE TEAM**

The white bat took Spike away from Rouge when she was sitting on the sofa trying to take all of the mayhem in.

The white bat was cradling Spike, "Its been like this ever since."

"But why? Shadow, couldn't you stop him?" Rouge thought it wasn't like Shadow to lose against him so easily.

Shadow shook his head, "I couldn't, he took away all the Chaos Emeralds. Without them I'm powerless. I didn't stand a chance against him."

"He's lucky to be alive." The white bat could still imagine Shadow getting beaten by Dark.

"What about the others?"

"They're all fine except..." He was cut off by the lost of his best friend.

"What's wrong, Shadow?"

"Espio, he tried to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Dark's base, but he couldn't do it."

Rouge was left in suspense, "What happened to him?"

"Dark found him trying to get away with the emeralds so he killed him."

The white bat held Spike closer to her, "Ever since then, the Chaotix team just split up."

"Split up? Why?"

"Too many disagreements, lets just leave it at that."

Rouge couldn't believe none of this. "Why does the future have to be this way?" She began crying.

The white bat held her close, "Come on now, don't cry. At least you still have something to do about it. You need to get back to your own time."

Rouge calmed down a bit, "That's just it, I don't know how. Charmy built this toaster and something went wrong and the next thing I knew I was here."

"Then I'll get Charmy to solve your problem", Shadow said.

"Charmy? He's still okay?" Rouge could feel some hope.

"Yeah so is Vector and Tonya. They're at the Chaotix that place isn't any good anymore, they just stay there for the weaponry against Dark."

"Then we should go right now."

The white bat walked to up Shadow, "I'm coming too, you might need me."

"I don't know, I can't risk your life out there."

"I'll be fine, I can take care of myself." She seemed that she had everything under control.

"You never changed over the years have you?" Shadow had noticed.

Rouge also noticed that Shadow wasn't all that stubborn like he used to be. Maybe her future would turn out okay after all.

It was a couple of minutes later and they made it to the Chaotix without any of Dark's robots showing up.

Rouge studied the old building, "The old place is still holding up? That's a surprise." She followed Shadow and the white bat inside and as Rouge thought the outside practically looked just like the inside. Dust was everywhere, it could be seen so easily. "Looks like someone's been slacking on cleaning this place." Then she heard a distant voice.

"Shadow, Rouge, hi!" A green crocodile appeared from the back of the room with a cane in his hand walking with it. "So nice to see you guys again and you even brought along baby Spike."

A purple cat stood beside him studying the young white bat that looked just like the Rouge she knew.

Shadow greeted back, "Hey Vec, we need your help. Where's Charmy?"

"In the garage, he isn't busy." Then he started to stare at the young bat, "Who's that? She looks just like Rouge."

Rouge put her hands on her hips, "I am Rouge."

Shadow cut in, "It's a long story, we'll explain when we find Charmy."

When they got in the garage Shadow started to explain why Rouge was in their time and not in her own.

After when he explain Charmy got busy with making a machine that would send her back.

Rouge noticed how grown and serious Charmy was. He even ditched that helmet of his and began to show off his yellow and black hair which defined all of gravity. "Charmy, you look so...so..."

"Old?" Charmy said as he took his eyes away from the machine.

Rouge thought he was nowhere near old, "Not old, I'd say very young at an old age."

Charmy just blinked not understanding what she said. He shrugged and continued to work on the machine.

Rouge then looked at Vector, "Vector, you're the one with the cane."

"I've been in business a long time", he said trying to make a point.

Rouge looked at Tonya and smiled, "You still look okay for an old woman."

"Don't call me old, bat girl!" Tonya was always teased with by Rouge. Sometimes she enjoyed it and sometimes she didn't. Mostly she didn't.

Then it just came to Rouge's mind, "Vector, why did everyone argue so much that everyone just broke up." He looked at Shadow then back at Rouge, "Shadow he was mostly upset about Espio's death and he had major temper problems, so I fired him. He kept picking fights with everybody for no reason. I had no choice, but it wasn't just him all of us were cranky that day as well. We just went our separate ways."

Rouge looked down on the floor sad, "That's awful."

Then they were interrupted when they heard a group of robots outside of the Chaotix. They all went outside and saw a lot of robots surrounding them.

"What do they want?" Rouge asked backing away.

"Who knows", Shadow stood in a fighting stance.

The robots began to clear a path for their leader.

Their leader had sharp fangs, huge horns, transparent wings, claws, a long black tail along with his black fur, and red eyes. He was a demon.

Shadow had said under his breath, "Dark."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT**

Rouge was a little afraid, "Dark is here, but why?"

Dark walked up to the group a bit and smirked, "So my robots are right, there is a strange girl wandering about in my city and a very familiar girl at that."

"What do you mean your city? This isn't your city. You took it over", Rouge said with anger.

He laughed a bit, "Everyone's attempts to stop me failed, it was highly pathetic."

Shadow looked like he wanted to fight him, "What are you doing here?"

"To eliminate the trespasser and to take your son away", he answered with the same smirk still on his face.

The white bat held Spike closer, "What? You can forget it! You won't take Spike away from us!"

"Humph, your funeral. Attack!" All of Dark's robots took charge at them with their guns attached to their arms firing as they were running.

Vector eyed the robots that we coming their way, "Shadow, we'll take care of the robots. Save your family from Dark."

Shadow nodded and ran towards Dark with a punch, but it didn't hurt him.

Instead Dark hit Shadow hard down on the ground, "You are pathetic, Shadow."

Rouge, Vector, Charmy, and Tonya were fighting the robots and the robots were losing. Even when they were all older they haven't lost any of their fighting spirit.

Vector had a long blade inside his cane and sliced every robot that came in his path.

Tonya still had her fans, she had an advantage with her razor sharp blades at the bottom of her weapon, slicing half of the robots that came in her path as well.

Charmy just used basic fighting skills.

Rouge just ordinarily kicked every robot she saw with her iron boots.

Soon they were done destroying all of Dark's robots.

Vector put his blade back in his cane, "Is it just me or are they a lot easier to beat today than in the past?"

Shadow was still on the ground trying to get up.

"Have you forgotten, Shadow? I have all the Chaos Emeralds, I have total ultimate power. You're useless", Dark said.

"Leave him alone, Dark!" The white bat wanted to fight him, but she couldn't risk Spike's safety.

Dark laid his eyes on her, "That reminds me." He turned away from Shadow and walked up to the white bat while holding his hand out, "Give me the child."

The white bat held him closer than usual, "No, stay away!"

Shadow had finally got from the ground and came to Rouge's aid, "Rouge!"

Dark took his powerful tail and struck him back on the ground.

Rouge then knew it was up to her. She jumped up in mid air and kicked Dark in his back. She landed back down on the ground, "Leave them alone."

Dark stood from the ground quickly and looked at her with the same evil smirk, "You wanna fight, girl?"

"I'm getting really sick of seeing that damn smirk every five seconds", she said with annoyance.

Dark ran towards her with his claws extending out from his hands in a stabbing position he almost stabbed Rouge, but she moved and he had gotten the white bat just the way he planned.

The white bat fell to the ground bleeding from her stomach, soon she died with baby Spike still in her arms crying stained with her blood.

Everyone was devastated that she had died and Rouge thought it was her fault. She kneeled on the ground sobbing.

Shadow cried with anger, "Dark, you bastard!"

Dark walked up to the white bat's dead body and took the crying Spike away from her arms.

"Put him down now!" Shadow ran towards him trying to hit him, but Dark had used none other than Chaos Control to warp himself away from them with Spike in his possession.

Shadow fell to the ground with anger and sadness. He was forever hitting the ground hard with his fist. He seemed to not care if he was hurting his hand making it bleed.

Vector put his hand on Shadow's shoulder looking at him melancholy, "Shadow..."

Shadow wiped away his tears and walked over to Rouge, but not with anger, but with happiness. Looking at Rouge was like looking at his wife again. He held out his hand for her, "Come on, we gotta get you home."

Rouge took his hand to get up from the ground while wiping away her tears looking at Shadow with confusion, "What? What about your son?"

"Getting you home is what we need to be focusing on right now."

Rouge made a slight smile and nodded.

A couple of minutes later Charmy finished the machine which created a portal ready for Rouge to go back to her own time. She still wished she could do something about the conflict that was happening. Before she went through the portal to her own time she looked back at the Chaotix once more. "Is there nothing I can do to change this horrible future?"

Shadow walked up to her gazing into her green eyes, "Only you can decide that."

Rouge felt as though she wanted to kiss him, but something held her back from doing it, telling her to wait. She walked through the portal and a couple of seconds later she found herself in the regular Chaotix building again. She couldn't be happier when she saw everyone's faces. She was overfilled with excitement. She ran to Vector and hugged him, "Vector, you're not walking with a cane!" She ran to Charmy and hugged him, "Charmy, you're still wearing that stupid helmet!" She ran to Tonya and hugged her, "Tonya, you're not an old hag!" She ran to Espio and hugged him, "Espio, you're not dead!" She stopped when she saw Shadow and hugged him passionately, "I especially missed you, Shadow."

Shadow blushed as she was hugging him. He enjoyed it for a couple of seconds until he pulled her away from him. "You feeling okay, Rouge?"

"Where did you go?" Charmy noticed she didn't have his toaster with her.

"I went to the future."

Everyone gasped.

Shadow seemed interested in hearing the story, "No way, tell us what it was like."

Rouge only told some of it, "Well...we're gonna split up."

"Split up!" Charmy shouted, "But I don't wanna split up."

Rouge smiled, "We will never split up if we always look after each other. Something's telling me the future looks pretty bright."


End file.
